Friday, February 11th, 2011
- Michigan man and his two sons charged with animal cruelty for allowing their dog to catch and kill a raccoon that had damaged their garage.
- I linked to this in the post below, but it’s worth its own link: New doubts about four women convicted in a 1994 ritual sex abuse case. This one has all the signs of a panic — homophobia, leading questioning of children, overlooking exculpatory evidence, and allegations of satanism.
- Montana legislature holds hearings on a bill to protect jury nullification.
- ACLU report questions the effectiveness, expense of Chicago’s massive surveillance camera system.
- Another isolated incident. I seem to have missed this one, which happened last fall.
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on Friday, February 11th, 2011 at 8:41 am by Radley Balko
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TheAgitator.com
I don’t get it…the 2 guys in Michigan weren’t being cruel to their dog at all !
I grew up near the TX/Louisiana border and during my misspent youth had two occasions to participate in actual coon hunts, which are great fun if you’re a fan of jogging drunk through the swamp in the dark chasing the far-off sound of barking hounds. Unlike brands of hunting where you shoot or trap the animal, the denouement of a coon hunt is usually being pulled apart by a pack of dogs while men try to pull them off quick enough to save the pelt. I understand British fox hunting is kind of similar.
All that to say, I thought this was how raccoons were supposed to die! :)
Release the hounds!
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“He said the prosecutor’s office offered Foster a “reasonable settlement,” the details of which Blumer did not know, but Foster declined to take it. “I am innocent,” Foster said.”
Ahh, see he didn’t take the “deal”. Bad form! You didn’t bow to their demands. Kiss their ring you peasant! They even charged the two teens who recorded it.
“The whole incident has been “blown out of proportion,” he said. “To me, it’s no different than if you buy a cat to kill mice.”
There is a difference, Blumer said. The killing of mice is not controlled.”
See, raccoons are protected, mickey mouse is not. Government permits! You can kill a raccoon if it damages property without a license but dont use a dog. They used pluto to kill it! Verboten! Nature is eeeevil! No doubt they’d fine this guy for letting the coon run off and go on to bite some kids in the neighborhood.
Someone needs to read Where The Red Fern Grows.
In some states you can be fined for catching a raccoon live and transporting it away from your house! The reason is racoons are territorial and you end up doing more harm than just catching and killing the raccoon.
You know how people always joke those who hate gays the most are secretely gay deep down inside. I think those prosecutors that convict people of bullshit crimes based on satanism are the one really in league with the devil.
Actually, I really don’t believe that. Because the devil and satanism are fucking make believe bullshit. Prosecutors are just psychopaths that have a mutated gene, preventing them from feeling compassion and causing them great pleasure while being sadistic.
I have been watching Survivors on Netflix. That is a very good series. Think of the Stand set in England. The most evil character is the Right Honorable Samantha, a minister who survived the influensa plague and is now obsessed with recreating government. God does she suck.
It is good that even the socialistic BBC is mocking their own. It gives me hope.
Something tells me there is more to the video than just a dog catching and killing a raccoon.
There’s a raccoon season??? They’re freaking half rats/half dogs with opposable thumbs. Worse than skunks because at least skunks leave you alone if you don’t screw with them. The season should be 365 days long.
Meanwhile, CPAC gives Dick Cheney and Rumsfield standing ovations. It’s like the bans on foie gras…while we torture people.
A hunter’s responsibility to the animal is a quick kill. Dogs tearing coons apart isn’t a wonderful thing–nor are the old bear hunts where the dogs would tear apart the bear.
Don’t know if it applies to this case, but a lot of “challenged” people move to a nice house in the woods and then proceed to bitch about and eradicate all wildlife. Usually, they are pretty cruel and inept about it (shovels to kill skunks). Can you maybe challenge yourself to come up with a better way, Skippy?
Don’t need a law against it, nor do I need to pretend there’s nothing wrong with it.
re: The prosecutor in the second link who sought convictions on the basis that the defendant was a lesbian, why is this the least surprising line I’ve ever seen in any of your links?
Its almost like there is an unwritten rule saying that you have to send innocent people to prison before you can be considered for a judge appointment.
I hate raccoons! They will get on top of my house and start tearing shingles off trying to dig into the attic. Getting shot in the belly with a 1000fps pellet gun seems to discourage them.
I’m with Boyd @#12. I can’t stand raccoons either, but I would feel bad if my dogs tore one to shreds, and I certainly wouldn’t get any enjoyment out of watching it happen (or video recording it). That being said, prosecuting somebody for that not only wastes state resources but also sets us down a dangerous path.
Raccoon hunting? Really?
Is there any animal humans won’t kill for entertainment?
I did not see the video. But I will distinguish that dogs and raccoons are at war with each other. So killings on the battlefield are perfectly acceptable. But then sicking the dogs on a raccoon once detained violates the Genenva conventions.
•Montana legislature holds hearings on a bill to protect jury nullification.
“I’m movin’ to Montana soon, gonna be a dental floss tycoon….”
I think animal cruelty should fall into the category of things that decent people should not do, but which is not really any business of the state. I can maybe accept laws which would punish dogfighting or setting kittens on fire. But eradication of pests is definitely not something the state needs to tightly regulate. Killing animals is always somewhat cruel in the best of circumstances.
Racoons are terrorists in a residential setting. The dog was just being a good ‘merican. Any good dog will make short work of a vermin – my dog even shakes his chew toys to death, it is just natural instinct.
Nature isn’t pretty; I grew up on a farm and I think people that have never been exposed to nature in any sense have a warped view of what goes on outside of their suburban paradise. I guess this prosecutor grew up watching Disney movies about the Fox and the Hound instead of playing outdoors.
“I can maybe accept laws which would punish dogfighting or setting kittens on fire.”
Slippery slope. Next you’ll accept a law banning the anal insertion of rodents. Pretty soon nothing will be legal.
/sarcasm
The child molestation case is appalling. I’m starting to get the impression that the majority of government prosecutors are nothing but craven self-aggrandizers and publicity hounds, eager to raise their own stature at the expense of any hapless citizen that they run across. Seems like it’s the 99% that give the other 1% a bad name.
so now when my huntress of a cat shows up with a half dead bird i’m supposed to rush the bird to the vet rather than letting the cat finish it off to avoid animal cruelty charges? I’m not going to watch it but jeez, it’s the way cats and birds interact with each other. This level of ignorance never ceases to amaze me.
Some day, I’m going to write a book titled “Idiots & Animals” and cite examples such as this. The kid knew how to solve the problem and he solved it in a common sense manner, the prosecutor is behaving with a Zero Tolerance mentality which is creeping in on society. This is the same as expelling the kids from school because they have tiny toy soldiers with tinier, solid plastic molded guns and calling them “weapons” by definition.
My favorite Idiots & Animals is still the Animal Control officer in Palm Beach who blew a gasket and cited animal cruelty when a Tiger got loose and a woman shows up at the staging area of the hunt with a live pig in her trunk (being raised for a barbecue) for them to help attract the tiger. The woman with the pig voluntarily showed common sense and practicality that famed hunter of man eating tigers, Jim Corbett would have approved of, the Animal Control Officer showed how you can be a total idiot and over qualify for City or County Goverment pay checks.
the line in the raccoon article that stood out to me:
‘There is a difference, Blumer said. The killing of mice is not controlled.’ this was in response to a point made about this being the same as people getting cats to control mice and that isn’t a crime…
this said it all for me.
Off-topic-
Rand Paul announces that he will vote against re-authorization of the Patriot Act:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSDBswx90Cs
Off topic: Live Streaming the Revolution: Sandworms sighted today on the outskirts of the Giza Plateau…
The problem with all of this is “the fremen” are really the Muslim Brotherhood and vice versa. But hey, let Egypt be sorted out by Egyptians.
#21 | Michael |
That was my first thought reading the comments as well. We’ve really lost touch with rural life. Dogs are predators. Killing pest animals is one of the main reasons for their domestication. Same goes for cats (even more so). Complaining that he “sic’d the dog on the racoon” implies an profound ignorance about the nature of the relationship between humans and dogs. Sure, they are great companion animals that view us as an extension of the pack, but at the base their contribution to the symbiotic relationship has always been their skills as predators.
Lots of other predator animals have been domesticated for their vermin control capabilities – ferrets, raptors, mongoose… to some degree you could say martin houses are similar (with flying bugs as the vermin) – heck, people even use gekos to control bugs in the house. That a dog being used in one of his primary roles (protect the home from animal intruders) should be criminal is a bit odd.
Joe:
It is by will alone I set my revolution in motion. It is by the smoke of hookah that thoughts acquire speed, the clothes acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my revolution in motion.
Even the newspaper gets the burden of proof wrong. “The four women each had a chance to prove they were not monsters. They did not succeed.”
Ref – Raccoon
Cruelty as defined by the state. The state has no problems with dogs tearing apart raccoons when the “season” is open to do so. That’s not cruelty. When the season is closed it magically becomes cruelty. Okay, mebbe not so magically, but based upon the state’s say-so.
See, most cruelty laws are written in this manner: “If a person knowingly causes unnecessary pain, suffering or death to an animal (animal must be defined) they shall be guilty of a blah-blah-blah.”
There’s the key word. Unnecessary.
Then they have exceptions to cruelty even though it’s still cruelty per se.
Exceptions when it comes to legal hunting, veterinary work or medical research. See those are “necessary”…to people. Not necessarily so for the animal.
Cause you know, the intentional mutilation of an animal’s genitalia/reproductive organs is not cruelty. Otherwise known as spaying and neutering.
By the by, raccoon is pretty dang tasty.
Andrew S., +++10 for that.
@NAB
I have 3 adept hunter felines. Several times a year they bring injured wildlife to the back door. Call me a pussy or whatever, but you know what I do? If the injuries are obviously terminal, I put it out of its misery as quickly and painlessly as I can manage. If not, I put the animal in a box, and I take a few minutes out of my day to drive the 5 miles to the SPCA shelter. While I’m there, I give them a $20 donation. I like to think they poor critter can be mended and released. Perhaps that is naive, but at the very least, they are better equipped to euthanize it than I.
I don’t blame the cats. You can’t arrest an animal for cruelty. But I’m not an animal, nor do I wish suffering on them. I understand that in the wild, nature can appear cruel. But I would not dream of depriving a wild animal of a necessary and deserved kill. However, my cats are not wild. They are well fed and are merely acting on their instincts. I am responsible for their actions, and if I witness them causing undue suffering I will put a stop to it, one way or another.
Sorry if I come off as self-righteous or preachy, but I so often hear friends, acquaintances, and co-workers (whom I otherwise respect) make flippant and casual remarks about animal cruelty that I personally find appalling. Like it or not, Raccoons feel pain and are capable of suffering. I understand, animals are not human beings. I understand, nature happens and it isn’t pretty. But you know what? Getting your jollies by watching or inflicting pain/suffering on an animal makes you a pitiful, sad little bully.
Without seeing the video, I don’t know if what happened in this case was cruel or not. But as #9 said, I suspect there is more on the tape than “pest control.” I mean, no one videotapes themselves pulling weeds or spraying ants, unless they plan on jerking off to it later.
TL;DR… don’t be an asshole. Kids who torture animals grow up to be serial killers.